[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 172 (Wednesday, December 12, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13042-S13043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          INCENTIVES TO TRAVEL

  Mr. KYL. Madam President, three months ago, we experienced an 
unprovoked attack on our country. America took a terrible hit, but we 
have rebounded and we have reminded the world of the strength of the 
American people.
  Three months ago, one industry in particular was stricken, and it 
continues to struggle to regain its footing. When our government shut 
down our airlines and our airports, it also shut down our travel and 
tourism industry.
  Under the headline, ``Travel Downtown Spreads More Woes,'' the 
December 11 Wall Street Journal reminded us that the industry remains 
in dire straits. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in 
the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection it is so ordered.
  (See Exhibit 1)
  Mr. KYL. The article focuses on the neighborhood around Los Angeles 
Airport, but it describes a scene all too familiar to many of us:

       Today, planes are once again buzzing just 300 feet above 
     the head of the people of Lennox. But something even scarier 
     has befallen them. The meltdown in the travel and tourism 
     business has claimed thousands of their jobs.

  Working together, the government and industry leaders can help the 
industry recover. By now, my colleagues no doubt have seen the 
television advertisements sponsored by the Travel Industry Association 
of America. Featuring President Bush, this privately supported 
advertising campaign encourages Americans to travel, to see our great 
country again, and to enjoy our many blessings. Now that the industry 
has stepped forward, it is time for us to do our part.
  The time has come to enact a personal travel credit to get Americans 
on the road and in the air again. I am pleased that travel-credit 
legislation has broad, bipartisan support. Now is the time to translate 
that support into action. With the slowest travel months of the year 
about to begin, let's give the American public an incentive to travel. 
Let's get a credit enacted quickly. Let's bring families together and 
let's get Americans enjoying the blessings of our country again. In 
short, let's get America traveling again.

                               Exhibit 1

             [From the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2001]

                   Travel Downturn Spreads More Woes

                          (By Eduardo Porter)

       Lennox, Calif.--Something strange washed over this area 
     following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11: quiet.
       With planes grounded across the U.S., residents of this 
     crowded community abutting Los Angeles airport weren't 
     assaulted by the sound of jet engines for the first time in 
     anybody's memory. The sudden silence was so at odds with the 
     usual deafening roar that ``kids were scared'' by it, says 
     Maria Van Deventer, assistant principal at Jefferson 
     Elementary School.
       Today, planes are once again buzzing just 300 feet above 
     the heads of the people of Lennox. But something even scarier 
     has befallen them. The meltdown in the travel and tourism 
     business has claimed thousands of their jobs.
       As much as any place in America, this 1.3-square-mile 
     unincorporated area of Los Angeles County has been the victim 
     of post-Sept. 11 economic fallout. Because this is 
     practically a company town, with many of its 23,000 residents 
     employed at the third busiest airport in the world and 
     related businesses, Lennox has become a ground zero of sorts 
     for the devastated travel and tourism industry.
       The impact of the near collapse in the industry has left a 
     broad footprint. Airline industry revenue should decline 30% 
     in the fourth quarter over the year-earlier period, estimates 
     Kevin C. Murphy of Morgan Stanley, and PKF Consulting 
     estimates that room revenue at hotels in major urban centers 
     will be down 17.5%. Other travel-dependent firms, from 
     airline caterers to airport concession owners, have also been 
     hit hard.
       There is no precise count of how many Lennox residents, who 
     are overwhelmingly

[[Page S13043]]

     immigrants from Mexico and Central America, have been laid 
     off in the past 2\1/2\ months. But job losses--more than 
     8,000 at the airport alone and thousands more at area shops, 
     hotels and other companies that depend on travel--have shot 
     through the community. Isabel Gurdian lost her job cleaning 
     planes on Sept. 12. A few weeks later Gladys Barraza was laid 
     off as a cashier at the airport's City Deli, Margarita 
     Uriostegui, who washed dishes at airline caterer Dobbs 
     International Services, was let go, too. Alfonso Martinez, a 
     barman at the New Otani hotel, got lucky. His workweek--and 
     income--were cut by only two-thirds.
       The impact has rippled through Lennox's dusty streets. 
     Sales are down about 30% at Daisy's Party Supply on Inglewood 
     Ave., Where a pinata of Osama bin Laden dangles from the roof 
     between a huge can of Modelo beer and Winnie the Pooh. And 
     they're off about a fifth at El Taco Macho, just across the 
     border in Hawthorne, even though $9 American flags have been 
     added to an eclectic menu of tacos and seafood cocktails. 
     Business also has plummeted at Noemy's Beauty Salon, which 
     doubles as remittance outlet that wires money from local 
     residents back to relatives in Latin America. On a recent 
     Friday, shop owner Margot Noemy Canizales waited all morning 
     for customers to show. None did.
       The pain is felt as far away as Jiquilpan, in central 
     Mexico, which has dispatched workers to Lennox for decades. 
     ``The whole town depends on money sent from here,'' says 
     Martin Orejel, a Lennox resident who has had his work hours 
     slashed as a bartender and bus-boy at a Ramada hotel not far 
     from the airport. ``Now,'' he jokes, ``we need them to send 
     money here.''
       At the second floor offices of local 814 of the Hotel and 
     Restaurant Employees International Union, the newly laid off 
     lined up to register for unemployment benefits. But many 
     Lennox residents are illegal immigrants and can't get such 
     financial assistance. Downstairs, union volunteers handed out 
     bags of food. Life in Lennox is pretty difficult to begin 
     with. With an average of nearly five people per household, it 
     is one of the most densely populated communities in 
     California. More than 94% of the students in the local school 
     district are in a program that provides free or reduced-cost 
     lunches to poor children, one of the highest rates in the 
     state.
       Hispanic immigrants began coming here in the late 1960's, 
     sucked into the U.S. to help sate the explosive demand for 
     low-wage service workers. Now, hit by the first wave of 
     layoffs in a decade, ``it seems like the end of the world,'' 
     laments Ms. Uriostegui, a mother of three whose husband is 
     still hanging on to a job at a tortilla shop. Most days she 
     hits the road looking for work, leaving applications 
     everywhere from a factory for stamping T-shirts to a plant 
     making refrigerator parts.
       To cope, some people are resorting to uncomfortable 
     measures. After losing her job, Gladys Barraza, her husband 
     and two children moved into her parent's two-bedroom home, 
     also in Lennox. Rosa Saldivar is facing starker options. Her 
     husband, Martin, who lost his job at a bakery that served 
     airport restaurants, is pressuring her to take their three 
     kids back to the family home in Durango, in northern Mexico.
       They wouldn't be the only ones to go. Ms. Van Deventer, the 
     assistant principal, says that 50 to 60 children, out of a 
     student body of about 1,100, have dropped out of Jefferson 
     Elementary since Sept. 11. Some, she says, have gone back to 
     Mexico and El Salvador, where it's cheaper to be unemployed 
     and where extended families can provide support. Others have 
     left to look for work in other American cities, including Las 
     Vegas, where it is rumored there might be jobs.
       For those who are staying, the stress is growing. Health 
     workers and parent-group coordinators at the schools are 
     detecting more alcohol abuse and depression. A few days ago, 
     Carmen Torres, a parent counselor at Jefferson Elementary, 
     saw a couple bickering. The wife was dragging in her recently 
     laid-off husband to register for English-language lessons. 
     The husband, crying in despair, complained that the classes 
     were beyond him.
       But many are confident that the community will prove its 
     resilience. Yvonne Moreno, a counselor at a health program 
     run by the school district, notes that most of those in 
     Lennox have been working since they were six or seven years 
     old. Many crossed the desert on foot, eluding border 
     patrolmen, to get here. ``They are survivors,'' she says.

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